Bankless

In a world of powerful AI, how private is a public blockchain? Will McEvoy, CIO of Cypherpunk Technologies and principal at Winklevoss Capital, joins David to explore why Bitcoin holders may be rethinking transparency and why Zcash is attracting renewed attention. They break down Cypherpunk's ambitious plan to accumulate 5% of the Zcash supply, the surprising economics behind its mining business, and the larger opportunity in digital privacy.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Why Zcash Is Back in the Spotlight
3:24 Why Did Zcash Take So Long to Break Out?
5:09 Who Is Buying Zcash?
8:03 Can AI Identify Bitcoin Whales?
12:33 Inside Cypherpunk Technologies
16:39 Cypherpunk's Treasury and Valuation
17:57 Why Zcash Mining Is So Profitable
27:38 The Gap Between Zcash's Price and Hashrate
31:21 Mining Zcash and Keeping It
33:01 Why Buy CYPH Instead of Zcash?
38:05 What Is Cypherpunk Technologies Actually Worth?
41:44 Zcash's Builders and the Orchard Bug
46:37 Will McAvoy's Investing Background
49:23 Could Zcash Reach $10,000?
51:22 Will Governments Accept Financial Privacy?

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RESOURCES

Will McEvoy
https://x.com/will__mcevoy

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Could AI break crypto before quantum does? Ryan and David unpack Justin Drake’s “bunker mode” warning, whether holders should move funds, Tom Lee’s decision to stop buying ETH, and the shutdown of two Ethereum L2s.

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

1:51 Yields, Oil & Bitcoin

https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/TVC-US10Y

https://x.com/santiagoaufund/status/2107548024310464790

https://x.com/josephwang/status/2108100745086275897

https://farside.co.uk/btc/

https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-10-07-robinhood-adds-25-million-bitcoin-balance-sheet-417890

9:32 Tom Lee Stops Buying ETH

https://x.com/coinbureau/status/2107763103756878003

https://x.com/lex_node/status/2107811138532774349

https://x.com/fundstrat/status/2108072716960149662

19:06 AI Threatens Crypto Security

https://x.com/drakefjustin/status/2107837081313505768

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/06/science/openai-math-problems.html

https://x.com/matthew_d_green/status/2107992246360649879

31:24 Cryptographers Push Back

https://x.com/LindellYehuda/status/2107999859219587309

https://x.com/mert/status/2108058959852773442

https://x.com/vitalikbuterin/status/2107976296320106851

37:00 Ethereum L2 Shutdowns

https://x.com/blast/status/2106032805280891073

https://x.com/AbstractChain/status/2107554632675340420

https://x.com/Starknet/status/2108113391525204034

41:25 Zcash ETF Momentum

https://www.analyticsinsight.net/news/grayscales-zcash-etf-reaches-usd-1b-as-zec-price-gains-lift-assets

https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-10-06-winklevoss-files-spot-zcash-etf-wink-417826

44:57 FinCEN Withdraws Wallet Rules

https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-announces-withdrawals-proposed-digital-asset-related-rules

50:22 Token2049 Takeaways

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

NEAR just got a new institutional gateway, but the ETF may only be the beginning of the story. Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley and Sovereign’s Sal Ternullo join David to unpack why investors are starting to view NEAR through the lens of AI, how NEAR Intents has already processed more than $32 billion in volume, what staking and token buybacks mean for the asset, and why a future filled with many AI models, chains, agents, and stablecoins could play directly into NEAR’s strengths.

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BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

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https://thedefireport.io/bankless

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 NEAR’s New ETF
2:15 Bitwise and NEAR
8:49 Selling NEAR to Investors
12:18 Intents and Buybacks
20:23 Staking and ETF Demand
26:34 The AI Opportunity
33:11 Many Models, Many Chains
38:37 AI Privacy
42:48 Closing Thoughts

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RESOURCES

Sal Ternullo
https://x.com/sal_ternullo

Hunter Horsley
https://x.com/HHorsley

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Venice‘s Head of Strategy Jon, joins David for the September $VVV community call to unpack Venice reaching 250B daily tokens, the latest $VVV emissions cuts and $DIEM supply changes, accelerating burns, rising demand for private AI, Venice Minds, the upcoming data center rollout, and what comes next.

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[TIMESTAMPS]

0:00 Intro
0:21 September AI Update
2:12 Token Growth Surge
8:36 Emissions and Diem Supply
16:10 Burn Mechanics Explained
23:40 OpenAI Privacy Controversy
32:00 Data Retention Warnings
35:52 Anthropic's Retention Shift
39:24 Privacy Boosts Venice
43:03 Minds and Model Combinations
52:48 Staking and Burn Questions
55:47 Data Center and Near
59:37 Lumara Film Festival

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Bitcoin just broke its bearish market structure, but surging bond yields could still test the rally. Ryan and David unpack Uptober, Robinhood’s trading push, the Bitget hack, and prediction markets’ path to the Supreme Court.

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https://thedefireport.io/bankless

👑 BANKLESS CONTENT MCP

https://www.bankless.com/premium

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

0:09 Bitcoin Breaks Bearish Structure

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin

https://x.com/hariskhantrader/status/2104621748591403035

6:35 Bond Yields, Liquidity & Macro Risk

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2105337195884052870

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-inflation-rises-less-than-expected-august-consumer-spending-surges-2026-09-30/

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2105355997892239838

https://x.com/EpsilonTheory/status/2105345560064745548

https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/TVC-MOVE/

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2105279482957369587

22:06 Robinhood Goes All-In

https://x.com/fintechfrank/status/2105082039733305734

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2105062331436966323

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2105063773165818119

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2105072369509257220

https://robinhood.com/us/en/agents/

33:19 BitGet Hack & NEAR Permissionless Debate

https://www.theblock.co/news/business/bitget-starts-phased-withdrawal-resumption

https://x.com/AlexAuroraDev/status/2104554958754357482

https://x.com/TrustlessState/status/2104955420401955273

https://x.com/kylekrason/status/2104562944457740481

https://x.com/near_intents/status/2105642219357241796

44:23 Prediction Markets Head to Court

https://www.legalreader.com/new-york-sues-polymarket-over-gambling-rules/

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/us-appeals-court-rules-against-kalshi-says-states-can-regulate-prediction-2026-09-25/

https://www.coinbase.com/blog/coinbase-receives-cftc-approval-for-coinbase-clearing-llc

48:29 Ethereum’s Cryptographic World Computer

https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2104160561374343176

https://x.com/cryptographicas/status/2104212366271390055

https://x.com/barnabemonnot/status/2104260847975707013

56:14 AI Agents & Bank Runs

https://x.com/JasonYanowitz/status/2104213040937812262

https://openai.com/index/introducing-dots/

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures